AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $83.67, but opened at $87.82. AST SpaceMobile shares last traded at $86.0010, with a volume of 6,571,603 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ASTS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $117.00 price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AST SpaceMobile from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AST SpaceMobile from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AST SpaceMobile in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $79.45.

AST SpaceMobile Stock Up 1.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $32.39 billion, a PE ratio of -47.44 and a beta of 2.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 18.37 and a current ratio of 18.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $84.65 and its 200 day moving average is $82.98.

AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.66) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.43). The business had revenue of $14.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.01 million. AST SpaceMobile had a negative net margin of 573.67% and a negative return on equity of 24.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1952.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.20) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. will post -1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AST SpaceMobile news, Director Julio A. Torres sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.34, for a total value of $1,145,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 43,239 shares in the company, valued at $3,300,865.26. This represents a 25.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Hiroshi Mikitani sold 1,350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.22, for a total transaction of $116,397,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,980,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,412,448,964.10. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 3,095,000 shares of company stock worth $275,597,100 in the last three months. 20.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AST SpaceMobile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AST SpaceMobile by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,488,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,560,687,000 after buying an additional 1,568,292 shares in the last quarter. Vodafone Ventures Ltd purchased a new position in AST SpaceMobile in the 4th quarter worth $397,413,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,661,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425,199 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AST SpaceMobile by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,522,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,749,000 after purchasing an additional 402,505 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in AST SpaceMobile by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,951,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,011,000 after buying an additional 350,690 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.95% of the company’s stock.

AST SpaceMobile Company Profile

AST SpaceMobile is a U.S.-based aerospace company developing a space-based cellular broadband network designed to connect standard mobile phones and other devices directly to satellites. The company’s core proposition is “space-to-cell” service: operating a constellation of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites equipped with large, high-power phased-array antennas to provide wide-area mobile broadband without requiring users to buy specialized terminals or handset modifications.

AST SpaceMobile designs, builds and operates satellite payloads and supporting ground infrastructure.